Respite
by Akela Victoire
Summary: After the Battle of Hogwarts, Ernie and Susan enjoy a little respite from reality together.
Written for **The Most Horrible Competition Ever _(Round 2)_** over on the **Harry Potter Fanfiction Challenges** forum.

 _ **Prompt used:**_ meteor shower.

* * *

The pair sat in silence at the very top of the Astronomy Tower, taking in the sights around them, lit only by the stars in the sky.

"It's hard to believe it's all over, isn't it?" Ernie spoke quietly, even though there was no one around to hear them.

Susan remained silent as she took in the wreckage of what had formerly been a grand castle, with beautiful landscaping, reduced to much less than that, due to the ravage of the battle that had taken place mere hours earlier.

"I only wish my family were here to see it." Susan spat bitterly. "What good is this victory if none of your family is here to see it?"

Ernie put an arm around her shoulder and instead of resisting, she allowed him to pull her closer and snuggle into him.

"You're not alone though in that regard. Many of us lost someone today and in the lead up to all of this and..."

"I know, Ernie!" Susan snapped. " _I know_ that I'm not alone with losing family, so why should I feel like this? There are people out there who have it worse than me. Harry didn't even know about magic until he was eleven and if the rumours are true, he didn't have as loving an upbringing as I did..."

 _"This isn't about him, Sue!"_ Ernie called her by her nickname. "It goes without saying that we're glad for what he's done, but right here, right now, it's about you. _About us._ About where we go from here, now that Voldemort is gone forever."

Susan shivered at the mention of the deceased dark wizard's chosen moniker.

"Relax. He's dead now. He can't hurt us anymore. He can't hurt anyone else anymore. Not you, not me..." Ernie hugged her just a bit tighter.

"When did you become so caring?" Susan chuckled, but it was a chuckle filled with very little real joy.

"I... I always cared. It's just that I wasn't that good at showing it." Ernie admitted.

"Ernie Macmillan. The _Pompous Prefect of Hufflepuff._ And to think that some people actually thought that Percy Weasley was worse..." Susan snorted.

Ernie relaxed, allowing her to have her fun at his expense.

She needed the laughter.

They _both_ did after the events of the past year, especially with how it all ended today in the fierce battle he would have found hard to believe had taken place here earlier, were it not for the obvious signs of damage to the castle itself and the school grounds as far as he could see.

At least the bodies of the fallen from both side had been removed...

He shuddered.

"Ernie?" Susan looked up at him from her position laying on his lap.

"Yeah?"

"What are we going to do now?" she asked. "The war is pretty much over officially. We don't have to hide from Death Eaters anymore or constantly live in fear for our lives..."

"Technically, that's not true. A lot of the scum got away today." Ernie pointed out. "That part isn't over..."

"But we don't have to worry about the Ministry not doing anything about them now _or worse,_ actually endorsing them... we're basically free to do what we want now. I don't know about you, but I'd like to actually continue my education. I know I want to practice law someday. My parents ran a law firm before they were murdered... I think I want to do that myself someday. Not just for them, but for me."

Ernie smiled and was about to speak again when several luminescent streaks of silver appeared in the sky, falling like rain in the distance.

A meteor shower.

"It's pretty, isn't it?" Susan asked, sounding a bit more cheerful as she took in the new sight.

 _"Not as pretty as you though."_ Ernie thought to himself.

He let her lie on his lap and twirled her hair idly around his fingers as they watched the sight together.

It really was beautiful.

The night wind blew gently against them as they lay there together, content for the moment to simply enjoy each other's company.

A welcome respite against the realities that they both knew they would eventually have to face.


End file.
